Summer 2021
Professional Activities
James Brady
James Brady (Anthropology) co-organized a session, “The Subterranean in Mesoamerican Indigenous Culture and Beyond,” at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, April 15-17, 2021. He also presented two papers, “The Constructed Subterranean Confronts Archaeology: Reviewing a Half Century of Ambivalence,” co-authored with instructor Melanie Saldaña (Anthropology), and “The Question of Sacrifice: Examining Maya Mortuary Practices through the Lens of Midnight Terror Cave,” co-authored with former Cal State LA graduate student Cristina Verdugo and Lars Fehren-Schmitz from UCSC.
Ga-Young Choi
Ga-Young Choi (Social Work) created and launched K-Forum WISE, which focuses on promoting information, support and education, in partnership with a nonprofit organization, the Asian American Resource and Information Network (AARIN) in August 2020. The goal of K-Forum WISE is to transfer research-based knowledge into applicable information in everyday life for Korean Americans/immigrants whose first language is Korean in culturally accessible ways. Monthly K-Forum WISE aims to improve Korean Americans/immigrants’ well-being by educating the community about various health, mental health, and social issues and services using research-based information.
Ramani Durvasula
Ramani Durvasula (Psychology) presented a workshop via Zoom on “Difficult Conversations Around Race & Gaslighting,” as part of the Stopping the Hate and Starting to Heal: Living With and Through the COVID-19 Pandemic Series that was set up by the Penn Task Force on Supporting Asian and Asian American Students and Scholars at the University of Pennsylvania, March 18, 2021.
Barry Hibbs
Barry Hibbs (Geosciences and Environment) delivered a presentation on “Nitrate Oxidation of Trace Elements in Marine Strata Causes Solute Loading in Southern California Watersheds,” at the 12th Annual Water Resources & Policy Initiatives “Virtual” Conference on April 15, 2021.
Roger Lee Mendoza
Roger Lee Mendoza (Management) was the guest at a one-on-one forum for Wall Street bankers and investors to address the implications of the 2020 U.S. presidential elections on healthcare and the COVID-19 pandemic. The forum, which included a live interview from New York City, was hosted by Third Bridge, Inc. on Oct. 26, 2020.
William London
William London (Public Health) delivered the following presentations via Zoom: “Health-related Quackery,” to Houston Oasis, in Houston, TX, Dec. 20, 2020, and “Quackery: A Neglected Population Health and Societal Menace,” to Capital District Humanist Society, in Loudonville, NY, April 11, 2021.
Sarah Minslow
Sarah Minslow (English) has presented the following papers: “Narratives of Violence in Children’s and YA Literature,” at the Narrating Violence: Making Race, Making Difference virtual symposium in Paris, France, March 2021; “Sexual Violence in YA Literature of Atrocity,” at the Let’s Talk About Sex in YA virtual conference in Cambridge, UK, May 2021; “Separate is Never Equal: Minority Child Activists for Racial Justice in the South (US) in Narrative and Visual Culture,” at the Children and Young People, Speaking Up and Speaking Out, the online biennial conference of the Children’s History Society and Manchester Metropolitan University, in Manchester, UK, June 2021; and “Games for Change: Human Rights Education through Online Games,” at the Children’s Literature Association Conference in Atlanta, GA, June 2021.
Jim Ovelmen
Jim Ovelmen (Art) participated in an exhibition of works, “QiPO Presenta,” during Art Fair Week in México City from April 29 to May 2, 2021. He collaborated with Méxican artists in a safely-distanced outdoor show that consisted of sculpture and video projection. His work was a projection of a mixed-media animation derived from hundreds of small watercolor paintings.
William E. Rosales
William E. Rosales (Sociology) was a guest speaker at a virtual briefing, “Persisting Inequalities and Paths Forward: A Report on the State of Undocumented Students in California’s Public Universities,” on Dec. 10, 2020. The event offered in-depth coverage of the findings and a discussion of what stakeholders need to know to advance equity and inclusion for undocumented students. He was also one of the co-authors of the report, which was featured in Inside Higher Ed and the L.A. Times.
Bidhan Chandra Roy
Bidhan Chandra Roy (English) joined a virtual conversation, “Writing Toward Liberation,” hosted by the Los Angeles Review of Books on April 5, 2021. Moderated by journalist, historian, and activist Maytha Alhassen, the discussion covered topics such as writing, incarceration, and the power of language and narrative to help imagine alternatives to the prison industrial complex.
Lauri Scheyer
Lauri Scheyer (Emerita, English) presented the following keynote lectures: “Avant-Garde Practices in the African Diaspora: Pitcher et al,” at the Annual Ethnic Literature Forum in China, May 2021; “Surrealist Poetics of Protest in the African Diaspora,” at the Avant-Gardes @ Zero Hour International Symposium, April 2021; “The Function of Poetry in the Modern World: Critical Analysis and African American Poetry,” in Kurdistan, April 2021; and “Race, Poetics, and the University” for the Poetics of Poetics and the University Conference, in City University of New York, March 2021.
Gay Q. Yuen
Gay Q. Yuen (Emerita, Curriculum and Instruction) was a panel speaker at a town hall discussion on “#StopAsianHate,” organized by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies on March 19, 2021. The panelists addressed topics such as the intersection of Asian American rights issues with anti-Blackness and Black Lives Matter, and how political and media discourse about China has contributed to violence against Asian Americans.
Publications
Stephanie E. August
Stephanie E. August (Computer Science/Engineering Education), visiting professor, co-authored an article with A. Tsaima, entitled “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: An Instructor’s Exoskeleton in the Future of Education,” in Innovative Learning Environments in STEM Higher Education: Opportunities, Challenges, and Looking Forward, Springer International Publishing, 2021. She also authored an article, “How Disruption Allows Us to Reimagine Convergent STEM Ecosystems,” published on the American Association for the Advancement of Science website, April 27, 2021.
Roberto Cantú
Roberto Cantú (Emeritus, English and Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies) edited a book, Homecoming Trails in Mexican American Cultural History, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, on April 27, 2021. This volume brings together biographies and memoirs by leading Chicano historians and studies of globalism during the rule of Imperial Spain (1492-1898), to the modern rise and global influence of the United States, particularly in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Angela Cooke-Jackson
Angela Cooke-Jackson (Communication Studies) co-edited a book, Communicating Intimate Health, published by Rowman & Littlefield on April 14, 2021. It is an edited collection of original, empirical research, personal essays, autoethnography, critical reviews, and theoretical work showcasing advances in intimate health research from the field of communication studies.
George Crocker
George Crocker (Kinesiology, Nutrition and Food Science) co-authored an article, “Effect of low- and high-carbohydrate diets on swimming economy: a crossover study,” in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, Dec. 9, 2020.
Marco Del Angel
Marco Del Angel (Economics and Statistics) co-authored an article, “Do Global Pandemics Matter for Stock Prices? Lessons from the 1918 Spanish Flu,” published on the National Bureau of Economic Research website, Jan. 2021.
Robert Desharnais
Robert Desharnais (Biological Sciences) co-authored a paper with Cal State LA alumnus Juan Apodaca, entitled “The effect of the Safer at Home order on the frequency of DUI breath alcohol tests in Los Angeles County,” in the Journal of Forensic Sciences on Feb. 16, 2021.
Siegrun Fox Freyss
Siegrun Fox Freyss (Emerita, Political Science) authored a book, Changing Urban Trends: Cultures of Decency and Well-being from the Premodern to the Postmodern, published by Routledge in 2020.
Ashley Heers
Ashley Heers (Biological Sciences) co-authored an article, “Multiple Functional Solutions During Flightless to Flight-Capable Transitions,” published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Feb. 10, 2021. The article co-authors include three Cal State LA undergraduate students: Stephanie Varghese, Leila Hatier, and Jeremiah Cabrera. Heers also co-authored an article, “Waxing and Waning of Wings,” in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 36, no. 5, May 2021.
Silvia Heubach
Silvia Heubach (Mathematics) co-authored the following articles: “Squares with Large Digit Average” and “Cyclic Subtraction Set Games,” published in Crux Mathematicorum, vol. 46, no. 8, Oct. 2020.
Barrington (Barry) Hunt
Barrington (Barry) Hunt (Management) authored an article, “What is Leadership and How Do You Recognize and Achieve It in Healthcare Management/Information Systems?”, in the Spring 2021 Newsletter for the Southern California Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). HIMSS is the premier professional organization for Health Information Managers and Healthcare Managers.
Roger Lee Mendoza
Roger Lee Mendoza (Management) devised an instructional game simulation in capital budgeting for use in his healthcare finance classes. He presented it as a peer-reviewed study, entitled “From non-cooperation to cooperation in healthcare decision-making: Instructional game simulation in capital budgeting,” during the 21st annual joint conferences of the Financial Education Association (FEA) and Academy of Business Education (ABE) on Sept. 17-19, 2020. This study was approved for publication in volume 46, no. 2, winter 2020, of the high-ranked Journal of Financial Education.
Sylke Meyer
Sylke Meyer (TV, Film and Media Studies), along with teaching assistant and graduate student Gustavo Aldana, co-edited a book, Interactive Storytelling for the Screen, published by Routledge on March 11, 2021. It is the ultimate resource for students of filmmaking, screenwriting, media studies, radio, television, film, game design, virtual reality, augmented reality, theater, and journalism.
Christine Scoffoni
Christine Scoffoni (Biological Sciences) co-authored an article, “Developmental and biophysical determinants of grass leaf size worldwide,” in Nature, March 14, 2021.
Lauri Scheyer
Lauri Scheyer (Emerita, English) authored A History of African American Poetry, published by Cambridge University Press, in the new paperback edition, 2021. This book was named a CHOICE Highly Recommended Book. She also authored the following chapters: “The Legacy of the African American Spirituals,” in A Companion to American Poetry, Wiley-Blackwell, 2021; “Anne Spencer Beyond the Harlem Renaissance” and “Sex and Race in the Poetry of Anne Spencer,” in Her Unfading Garden: Critical Essays for Anne Spencer, University of Virginia Press, 2021; “The Legacy and Place of Amiri Baraka in American Poetry,” in Some Other Blues: New Perspectives on Amiri Baraka, Ohio State University Press, 2021; and “Report from Part Three: The Legacy of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective,” in All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, John F. Blair Publishing, 2020. Additionally, she authored the following journal articles: “Black Black October Surprise By and With Paul Outlaw,” in Riting, 2021; “The Changing Same: Aesthetic Modernism and Black Nationalist Identity Before and After the Zero Hour,” in the Journal of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Hunan Normal University, vol. 4, no.1, June 2020; and “Diction in African American Poetry,” in the Special Forum on Poetry and the Outside, for Tupelo Quarterly, no. 20, March 2020.
Ji Y. Son
Ji Y. Son (Psychology) co-authored an article, “Instructed Hand Movements Affect Students’ Learning of an Abstract Concept From Video,” in the Cognitive Science multidisciplinary journal, vol. 45, no. 2, Feb. 12, 2021.
Shikha Upadhyaya and H. Rika Houston
Shikha Upadhyaya (Marketing), along with H. Rika Houston (Marketing), Christopher Blocker from Colorado State University, and Marjorie Sims from ASCEND at the Aspen Institute, co-authored an article, “Evolving Two-Generation Services to Disrupt the Intergenerational Effects of Poverty and Promote Family Well-Being,” in the Journal of Business Research (JBR) in March 2021. ASCEND adopts a gender and equity lens to address the entire family’s needs through a two-generation approach and their national network includes many of Cal State LA’s community partners.
Ángela Vergara
Ángela Vergara (History) authored a book, Fighting Unemployment in Twentieth-Century Chile, published by University of Pittsburgh Press, on April 13, 2021. The publication features the story of how industrial and mine workers, peasants, and day laborers, as well as blue-collar and white-collar employees earned a living through periods of economic, political, and social instability in twentieth-century Chile.
Alejandro Villalpando
Alejandro Villalpando (Pan African Studies; Latin American Studies) authored a book chapter on the “Racialization of Central Americans in U.S.,” for an anthology, Precarity and Belonging, published by Rutgers University Press, June 18, 2021.
Honors
David Blekhman
David Blekhman (Technology) received a $625,000 grant from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) to create a Graduate Research Fellows Endowment Program to support students studying clean-air technologies. The program will assist graduate students in the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology as they prepare to enter the workforce and help them contribute to the fields of air quality and climate change.
Choi Chatterjee
Choi Chatterjee (History) received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the project, “Growing Food in the City: Urban Food Gardens for Research and Education,” 2020. She is part of a faculty team that is installing a food garden on campus. The garden will serve as a site of scholarly research on hydrology, plant biology, nutrition and the history of climate-adapted agriculture in the Los Angeles region.
Dawn Dennis
Dawn Dennis (History) received a California Humanities Quick-Grant for the project, “Mervyn M. Dymally Bridgebuilder and History Maker, Public Events and Exhibition,” summer 2020. Dennis and her students processed the papers of Mervyn M. Dymally in partnership with the Autry Museum. They hosted a series of public events with materials from the collection.
Ann Garry
Ann Garry (Emerita, Philosophy) was named the Distinguished Woman Philosopher of 2020 by the Eastern Division of the Society for Women in Philosophy (ESWIP), Jan. 16, 2021. The award “recognizes outstanding scholarly contributions to the discipline of philosophy, as well as service within the discipline, including committee work, mentoring women and people of color, and promoting equity within the discipline,” according to an announcement from ESWIP.
Paul Liu
Paul Liu (Technology), top center, and his teams of students from Cal State LA and Taipei University of Technology won first and second place in the 2021 SourceAmerica Design Challenge, which aims to support people with disabilities in their workplaces. The first-prize project, Zeno Effect, is a web-based data tracking platform that uses facial and object recognition to assist in an assembly process and helps managers spot areas needing attention.
Gustavo Menezes
Gustavo Menezes (Civil Engineering), lead principal investigator, received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve undergraduate education in STEM fields through a new model of teaching and learning. The four-year grant will enable the university’s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology (ECST) to create Eco-STEM, a healthy education “ecosystem” designed to facilitate learning for all students regardless of their backgrounds. The project is also coordinated by co-principal investigators Jane Dong (ECST); Nancy Warter-Perez (Mechanical Engineering); Daniel Gálvan (ECST); and Silvia Heubach (Mathematics). The project team includes Catherine Haras (Center for Effective Teaching and Learning); José Mijares (Mathematics); Eva Schiorring, external evaluator; and Liz Thompson from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Theodoric Manley and Khadija Monk
Theodoric Manley (Sociology) and Khadija Monk (Criminal Justice and Criminalistics) were featured in The West Big Data Innovation Hub’s “History in the Making” series for Black History Month 2021. Monk and Manley, who participated in Cal State LA’s Big Data Project, reflected on their life’s work and the role of big data in equity.
Emily Moss
Emily Moss (Music) was recognized by the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) with the prestigious 2021 John Swain College/University Music Educator Award. She was honored during the CMEA Virtual Awards Gala, held in conjunction with the California All State Music Education Conference on Feb. 18, 2021.
Juily Phun
Juily Phun (Asian and Asian American Studies) received a fellowship from the prestigious American Association of University Women for the year of 2021-2022. Recipients of AAUW fellowships pursue academic work and lead innovative community projects to empower women and girls.
Yixian Wang
Yixian Wang (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received a $474,995 grant from the National Science Foundation for a project called “Career: Development of New Plasmonic Electrochemical Microscopy Centered Techniques for Advancing Single Entity Analysis,” April 1, 2021. Wang and her research team are developing new techniques to study the chemistry of single nanoparticles, cells, cellular components, and molecules.
Angela Williams
Angela Williams (Nursing) received the prestigious American Academy of Nursing “Edge Runner Award” for her innovative and collaborative model, the National University Nurse Managed Clinic Project, Oct. 6, 2020. The project takes the interprofessional healthcare team directly to the community to deliver primary care services onsite at designated locations throughout underserved neighborhoods in south Los Angeles County at no cost to the patients served. The Academy’s Edge Runners are nurse-designed innovative models of care or interventions with significant, demonstrated outcomes to improve health, impact cost, and influence policy.
Submissions
University Reports is an online publication that features faculty and staff news. It is published by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at Cal State LA.
For comments and submissions, please email [email protected].